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Over four in ten (41%) say they use any internet or apps for news - up from 32% last year
Over four in ten (41%) say they use any internet or apps for news - up from 32% last year. Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy
Over four in ten (41%) say they use any internet or apps for news - up from 32% last year. Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy

How popular are the internet and apps for news consumption?

This article is more than 9 years old

41% of UK adults get their news from the internet or apps according to Ofcom research, inching ahead of those who do so through newspapers

The percentage of adults in the UK consuming news via the internet or apps has overtaken those who do so through newspapers, according to the latest report from Ofcom, but only just.

Roy Greenslade writes:

According to its research, some 41% of people say they access news online, inching it ahead of the number who do so through newsprint newspapers, at 40%. A year ago, the online total was 32% while newspapers were, as now, 40%.

The research report by the media regulator looks at news consumption across the four main platforms: television, radio, print and online and aims to paint a picture of news consumption across the UK in 2014. We've pulled out some of the key findings below.

There has been a growth in the number of people using the internet or apps for news

Over four in ten (41%) say they use any internet or apps for news - up from 32% last year. Among 16-34s this has increased from 44% in 2013 to 60% in 2014. Ofcom found that consumption of news through any internet or app was three times higher for those in the 16-24 age group (60%) than in the 55 and over age group (21%).

Despite TV seeing a small decrease since last year, it is still by far the most used platform for people to access the news.

Ofcom say that that small drop in the percentage of UK adults using television for news consumption was driven by the 16-34 age group whose use of it dropped from 66% in 2013 to 59% in 2014.

The BBC website or app is now the third most-used news source

The top two news sources in terms of reach among UK adults are both TV channels, with BBC One being the most used (53%), followed by ITV1/ITV Wales/UTV/STV at 33%. The BBC website or app is now the third most-used news source (24%, up from 16% in 2013), placing it above the Sky News channel and BBC News channel.

The chart above shows the top 20 news sources in terms of reach among adults in the UK.

According to the Ofcom report, 59% of those who use the internet for news say they use the BBC website or app - up from 52% in 2013. Google news has decreased since last year, with the removal of Google Reader.

'To know what's going on around the world' - the main reason we follow the news

The table above shows the reasons chosen for following the news. Almost threein five UK adults say they follow the news to find out '"what’s going on in the world”.

To find out “what’s going on across the UK” (56%) was the second most-cited reason, followed by to know “what’s going on in my local area” (49%).

Ofcom found that although the reasons cited for following the news were broadly similar for those aged 16-24 and for those aged over 55, younger age groups were more likely than those aged 55 and over to choose “to pass the time when waiting/travelling/commuting/bored” as a reason (17% of 16-24s, 23% of 25-34s vs. 9% of those aged 55 plus).

Across all platforms, UK adults use an average of 3.8 sources for news

3.8 - that's the number of sources UK adults use across all platforms. The number of news sources people use depends on the platform used; for television and website or app it is two, for newspaper it is 1.9 and for radio it is 1.4.

Methodology

Ofcom's report uses a variety of data sources. The primary source was a news survey commissioned by Ofcom and conducted by Kantar Media in March/April 2014, comprising an omnibus survey of 2,731 people across the UK, which includes boosts of 350 in each devolved nation. Other sources include:

  • Ofcom local media omnibus, conducted by Ipsos Mori, comprising 2,152 adults aged 15+
  • metrics on television viewing from the industry currency BARB;
  • newspaper readership figures from the National Readership Survey; and
  • online consumption metrics from UKOM/comScore.

Ofcom also state that:

Any direct comparisons between the quantitative research we have commissioned and data from the industry measurement systems should be made with caution because of:

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